Abstract
The resistance to bending of continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites at processing temperature is an important predictor of wrinkle formation during the stamp forming process. This resistance can be quantified with experiments and approximated with models. However, current models are validated with one, or at most two, thermoplastic composites. Hence, it is not known whether these models generalise to other thermoplastic composites. This data-driven study proposes a rate- and temperature-dependent bending model derived from the experimental data of 10 very different thermoplastic composites. The multivariate data structure was analysed with a Tucker decomposition, together with bootstrapping and cross-validation, to reveal the important generalisable trends, and discard irrelevant features. The most suitable Tucker model could be parametrised to yield a four-parameter model, which approximates the deformation, rate, and temperature dependence, respectively using a linear, a power law, and an Arrhenius-type relation. The four-parameter model was validated with experimental data from four other thermoplastic composite materials. It can describe the measured rate- and temperature-dependent bending behaviour of a wide range of thermoplastic composites.
Highlights
With their efforts to increase vehicular energy efficiency, the aero space and automotive industry are driving the demand for lightweight materials such as continuous fibre reinforced polymers [1]
Ther moforming of thermoplastic composites (TPCs) is a promising automated process that is suited for high volume production
The estimate for the measure ments of the uni directional (UD)-CF-PA6 and UD-GF-PA6 composites are plotted in Fig. 4, top and bottom row, respectively
Summary
With their efforts to increase vehicular energy efficiency, the aero space and automotive industry are driving the demand for lightweight materials such as continuous fibre reinforced polymers [1]. The chal lenge is to produce parts from such materials in high volumes. Ther moforming of thermoplastic composites (TPCs) is a promising automated process that is suited for high volume production. The forming process can introduce defects, such as wrinkles, waviness, tears and fibre buckling. Wrinkling has a severely negative influence on the part’s performance [2], and is one of the most common defects observed [3]. Since the out-of-plane bending behaviour has been shown to be important in predicting the size and shape of wrinkles [4], research efforts have focussed on developing an experimental method to characterise and model the out-of-plane bending behaviour
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call